Mexican fruit salad

At today's tinaguis, the makings of a delectable fruit salad.

a weekend in the city

We have just returned to the beach after a delightful weekend up in the state's capital Colima.  We decided to get out of town for a belated anniversary celebration, an early (2+ months) birthday remembrance, and to be away during the carnival festivities that usually involve a disco in front of our house.  (I have since heard from Jack that the disco was at the far end of the malecón and that things were really not so bad, but I'm glad we went anyway.)  We have never stayed at the famous Hotel Ceballos although we've been in it many times.  So this was going to be the weekend we cleared out.

We treated ourselves to lunch at Dago's before we hit the road.  He does make the BEST fish tacos among the many puestos and these did not disappoint.

Those and a cold beer and we were ready to roll.

The drive up to the city takes about 45 minutes.  On the way up you can see the twin volcanoes in the distance, one is hot and the other cold.  While we were there the hot one let loose with quite a show (although we didn't see it).  This is from the morning's paper.

Our first chore was to stop by the equipal store to check on the progress of the repairs to our sofa and love seat.  Remember them?  Absolutely nothing has been done since I took them in over a month ago.  Why?  The fabric I wanted is no longer available.  Did anyone think to call me and tell me this?  Blink, blink, uh no.  OK, let's choose a new one, although I had my heart set on that one.  NONE of the fabrics in the sample group I was browsing except one was available, and I'm not crazy about that one.  But what's to do?  Then Brenda ~ the owner ~ tells me it will be at least six weeks MORE before the pieces are done.  I remind her she has already had the furniture for 4 weeks, she could have called me any time to straighten this out and that I want it by the end of March.  Blink, blink, ok.

With that taken care of we drove off to the hotel to get settled in and start our weekend's festivities.

This magnificent old colonial hotel was built in 1861, enlarged several times over the years, modernized, and finally joined the Best Western chain about 10 years ago.  Its original design was the typical "hacienda" style with the rooms all opening onto a central courtyard that was open to the sky.  That courtyard is still there but now it's a dining room.  The ceilings are about 15' high,  walls a foot thick; it's always cool and quiet.

This was the hallway leading to our room.  We took a room in the back, overlooking a lovely green garden rather than a place on the street.  This was the view out of our lovely wrought iron and glass doors.  That space used to be a little cafe called La Paloma where we had lunch with our friend Peggy the first time we ever came up to Colima back in 1990.

We ate a light supper in the hotel's cafe and made it an early night.  Actually, I was exhausted from the sofa negotiations!

Saturday morning we walked out to do some errands and get breakfast at Los Naranjos (the orange trees) where we have eaten several times; it's a favorite spot when we're downtown.

Sighted hanging on the side of a building:  hammocks, anyone?

Next was a trip out to Home Depot® (they're everywhere) for things we can't get in any of the local ferreterias such as a good shower head, garden hose (the one we bought turned out to be too small for the well feed; Mr. C is wrestling it into submission right now) and a big box of MiracleGro® to keep the plants happy.  Those things accomplished we drove out to El Trapiche, home of La Cerveceria de Colima, a small brewery Neighbor Nelson told us about.  I think one of the J Boys found it and passed along the info.  I've had their beer and my favorite of the three flavors is the IPA  called Paramo.  Absolutely delicious.  It wasn't open and we have a case of empties to return so I guess we'll just have to go back, alas.

For dinner we went to an Italian place called, appropriately, La Pasta.  Interesting.  We went at 7, were the ONLY people there the entire evening, sat pretty much in the dark, our table lit (dimly) by a holder with a tea light.  Sixties and 70's music playing in the background; Simon and Garfunkel, Boz Scaggs, Carley Simon.  But the food was wonderful; tender house-made pasta, good olive oil-based sauce with herbs and tomatoes, fresh shrimp (for me) and clams (for Mr. C0.  It was just sort of creepy to be the only patrons in this dark, gloomy place that came well recommended.  Then we asked them to call us a taxi and it took at least 30 minutes for one to show up.  What followed was a hair-raising dash back to the hotel.  I was tempted to kneel and kiss the ground when we got out.

The hotel has a lively and comfortable sidewalk cafe where we had breakfast this morning.  To the left is the beautiful cathedral.

Directly in front is the central jardin with its ornate gazebo and bright white wrought iron benches, lots of flowering bushes and trees.  A lovely place for a Sunday morning stroll.

By the time we finished eating it was time to pack up and bid adios to this gracious, charming hotel.  We headed for WalMart for some grocery shopping and then drove home.  It was such a lovely, restful break after the hecticity(?) of the remo, the workers in and out of the house, getting things put away and then returned to their rightful spots.  I'm now ready to enjoy the next five or six weeks before we have to pack up again, this time to return home.

random harvest

Yesterday I was gazing out at the big palm tree in the back garden and noticed it was laden with coconuts ready to harvest.  I mentioned this to Fernando and he said he'd have someone take care of it in the afternoon.  While I was away getting beaten at dominoes he brought a gent over who, I presume, climbed up the trunk and cut down great clusters of fruit.  Here's what I saw when I got home.

But never fear!  There are plenty more where these came from.  In fact, here's next year's crop.

back home

We're out of Jack's and back home, loving the remo as done by Jaime and his crew.  Pictures tomorrow. We've had very sporadic internet but things seem to be working OK.  We came back on Saturday night and man, am I glad to be here.

attention dog lovers and NASCAR fans

and anyone else who loves a fabulous read by an outrageously gifted and imaginative writer.

living room remo: Phase IV weekend pause

It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and the workers are done for the day and for tomorrow.  That gives us time to get a few things done over here.

sofa repainted and looking fresh and bright

ditto the bookcase

Everything in the living room is done except the two big walls.  Waiting for the cal to set and dry.  And we are having particularly wet and humid days.  It started raining lightly last night as we were leaving Dago's and didn't quit until this morning.  During the night we had some heavy rainfall that got into our bedroom at the house through the open slats.  It puddled up on the floor, soaked through the bottoms of some storage boxes we had stacked against the wall, got some books wet and wicked up the drapes.  Nothing is ruined but it's a mess.    Fortunately the work crew has not started painting on the outside walls yet but I was hoping any further rain would hold off until the new roof protection got laid down.  Alas, no, but so far the living room ceiling doesn't show any water damage.  Jack reported we had 1" of rain.  We recalled the Valentine's Day about 10 years ago when we had a huge storm; thunder, lightening, flooding.  This wasn't that bad.  We just got a good soaking.

The kitchen walls have been repainted, the cabinets repaired and repainted inside.  I can't wait to move back into it.  It is such a big, bright spot to work in.  This is the corner cabinet that was so moldy and scummy we thought it was going to have to be rebuilt.  The top was cracked and looked like it was going to fall apart.  The corner wall up to the window was black with mold.  But now, good as new, smelling like a rose (or fresh paint!).

kitchen corner, mold-free!

The purple wall on the upstairs terrazzo  got a refresher coat and looks so bright and pretty.  Next week will begin the work on the outside walls including stripping off ~ actually peeling off ~ the old paint which has actually bubbled up, split and can be pulled off in great strips.  Glad it's them, not us doing this dirty work.  This is, of course, providing we don't have more rain to slow them down.

living room remo: Phase III cal

The living room walls are curing nicely as the gang moves on into the kitchen to finish repairs to the cupboards, walls and shelves. 

sofa wall with cal, a white cement that helps hold paint.

this wall is so smooth.  ready for paint in a couple of days.

 We went to the paint store (again) this morning and bought paint for the living room/kitchen, purple terrazzo wall, and a roll of membrana that goes on the roofs under a couple of coats of the waterproof stuff. Tomorrow we’ll go (again) and get more exterior wall paint, the actual waterproofing paint and one more cubeta of white for ceilings and downstairs bedroom/bath walls. Then the blessed weekend arrives and we don’t have to go anywhere or buy anything except shrimp at Dago’s and maybe lunch at Chuy’s on Sunday. Plus by 2 PM on Saturday we can get into the house undisturbed, log on to the internet and waste an afternoon web crawling.  I probably won't be able to listen to the opera on Saturday ~ The Magic Flute ~ and that's a real bummer.

 I think I have come up with a new tiling project for Eve. I’ll explain what I have in mind ~ and why ~ after I talk to him and see if he thinks it’s actually possible.

Just finished reading “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr. Quite a wonderful story. I recommend it with 4 ****.